


Beneath Lace

by maleficaster



Series: P5 Girls Week [2]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Leering, Not Beta Read, thinking about murder, traitor haru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 11:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30105537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maleficaster/pseuds/maleficaster
Summary: It won’t be much longer before Haru can tear the lace apart, seam by seam, watch as each hole widens until they are simply threads on the ground, scattered and willfully out of her reach.-[Or, shopping for a new wedding gown is simply another reminder of the road Haru has chosen.]
Series: P5 Girls Week [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2213658
Kudos: 10





	Beneath Lace

“You look absolutely stunning,” the employee says from behind her, “like an angel.”

In the mirror Haru can see where the impression comes from: the white gown hugs all the right curves before it fans out past her thighs; along her arms is delicately crafted lace that crawls up covering her wrist to shoulder to neck and back down to the low heart neckline of the gown. The dress’s well crafted structure gives off an air of purity, of peace. The employee sees it.

Her father sees it, when she steps out of the changing room. “You’re beautiful, Haru,” he says. For a moment there’s something in his gaze that’s nostalgic and Haru wonders what her mother looked like on their wedding day. Did her father look wistful and happy as they exchanged vows? Or did he recompose himself within seconds like he does now?

“What do you think?” Her father speaks after seconds of silence, his eyes switching to Sugimura. 

At the end of all this it really is his say about the dress; it was primarily his desire to see Haru in a Western-styled gown rather than something traditional, and Haru had no choice but to go along with his whim for even now he sees Haru as his possession. It’s obvious through his silence, obvious in the way his eyes roam her, starting at her exposed skin just beneath her wrist, tracing the windows between the fabric up to her neck, then lower only to linger and stare at the wispy laces teasing the flesh beneath.

“This can work,” he says. Sugimura doesn’t bother to act decent and pretend his gaze had been somewhere it shouldn’t. No one comments on this; she knows her father has all but sold her off physically and the employee has no context for the true nature of their relationship. 

She can’t say anything about it. All she can do is keep her fist clenched at her side and lifts the other hand to cover the spot that burns from his gaze. Instead of saying anything about her disgust she tilts her head and smiles, a practiced mannerism that neither of them have yet to see through. “I’m glad this dress is to your liking,” she says. 

Haru’s mastered the skill of acting innocent, the choice of learning nonexistent—it had been a necessity since she emerged from her crib, since she realized how two-faced people were, since she first met that dangerous benefactor, since Sugimura and every suitor before him began to plot out the events that would guide her into a new gilded cage. Anything but this game of pretending would lead to her being reprimanded needlessly, now or later it would be impossible to say. It would draw suspicion.

So instead she sits with revulsion pulsing through her as Sugimura finally lifts his gaze only after Haru blocks his unwelcome view. She sees the displeasure cross his facial expression and the corners of her lip quirks up just a little more. He at last turns away to discuss the pricing of the dress with the employee and her father, leaving her to stand surrounded by mirrors that capture this innocent yet bewitching image of her covered and silk and captured in laces. 

It won’t be much longer before Haru can tear the lace apart, seam by seam, watch as each hole widens until they are simply threads on the ground, scattered and willfully out of her reach. There’s a clock ticking down just above Sugimura’s head awaiting the day a new message comes to her from an unknown number, a list of names with his thrown into the mix. 

It’s already suspicious that her previous fiancés all died in their youth, sometime after their engagement to her, even though it’s utterly impossible to connect her to any of their deaths. She certainly doesn’t trust her supposed boss but he’s played the political game longer, knows that he has a view of the board that she doesn’t, and he’ll be the one who knows the most opportune moment to strike. It’s shameful enough she seems reliant on a criminal with greater reach but it was the only option that granted her just a bit more control of her own fate. 

Yet still she has no clue when she can finally act, enter the metaverse and meet with Sugimura at his most twisted. She imagines she’d find more reason to cut him down with every word his shadow would speak, give her more reasons to take her time with the crime instead of securing a quick victory. It would certainly be a good way to relieve her stress which builds with every word that pours out of Sugimura’s mouth, with every word and gaze and touch she didn’t ask for. 

It’s a shame, really, that shadows don’t bleed. It’s difficult to relish in her temporary release when it doesn’t quite seem real at first, a mirage that would disappear in front of her rather than a decaying corpse bleeding out at her feet. 

For now she will be patient and wear these lace chains, watch and play coy as she dances through this familiar arena of deception. Not much longer, she thinks of Sugimura, of her father, of that boy with black curls and the bald man with a maniacal grin. Not much longer, she thinks of her fate at last within her own hands. 

Just a while longer.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I really liked the idea of the contrast of the two themes of lace and desperation so I wanted to try to put them together. Traitor Haru was one of the first ideas I thought to do this for, but I did consider traitor Ann for a while. Haru was just easier to do with my limited ideas on how to approach the scene and my goal for Girls Week was to write or draw for someone different most days. Plus it's always fun to think about how someone else would fill the traitor role. 
> 
> I’m also [@maleficaster](https://twitter.com/maleficaster) on twitter.


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